About the Sex Workers Project

What we do

SWP staff and allies carry the banner in the LGBT Pride Parade 2010.

Photo by Maya Paley.

The Sex Workers Project (SWP) provides legal services and legal training, and engages in documentation and policy advocacy, for sex workers. Using a harm reduction and human rights model, we protect the rights and safety of sex workers who by choice, circumstance, or coercion remain in the industry.

The SWP provides critical information to policymakers, activists, and the media on the human rights abuses faced by sex workers and those who are at risk for engaging in sex work. We use documentation-based advocacy, policy analysis, training and education, and collaboration with community-based service providers to advance practical, long-term solutions to the problems faced by this vulnerable and marginalized population. We document the lives of sex workers and put a human face on violations of their human rights.

The SWP works to ensure that the criminal justice system appropriately responds to the needs of sex workers; that victims of trafficking in persons have access to legal and other benefits; and that community-based service providers who work with sex workers have the expertise to assist them. The SWP works in the following areas: criminal justice reform; trafficking in persons; and human rights documentation.

Strategies

We use a number of strategies to achieve our goals and objectives at every level, including:

Legal Advocacy and Outreach

The SWP offers legal services to individual sex workers, and also goes on outreach to find sex workers where they are most comfortable and advise them of their legal rights.

Training and Education

The SWP conducts trainings for legal issues that are important to sex workers, including the issues around trafficking in persons; on the legal rights of sex workers (especially related to violence and to police interaction); and rights of outreach workers, many of whom we have found are being harassed by the police.

Human Rights Documentation and Policy Advocacy

The SWP investigates, documents and disseminates information about human rights violations by interviewing sex workers, service providers, advocates, and government officials. This work is critical in bringing to light human rights abuses suffered by sex workers, and puts a human face on this misunderstood and marginalized population. The SWP provides a unique voice to create informed and fact-based public discussion, to counter sensational and unproductive coverage of sex workers and trafficked persons.

The Urban Justice Center

The SWP is a project at the Urban Justice Center (UJC). The UJC serves low-income and marginalized New Yorkers through a unique combination of direct legal services, systemic advocacy, community education, and organizing. For information about the UJC's work, please visit www.urbanjustice.org. The SWP maintains this website to provide additional resources and information specifically about and for the sex worker community.